Elitekeyboards Replacement for the Filco Tenkeyless - The Leopold FC200R

[ironman31]

yeah... I'm sure they don't make that much on keyboards so this is where they cash in I'm guessing. Still, this is almost as bad as buying HDMI cables from bestbuy or fs.

I agree with you here. I bought a few 6 foot hdmi cables on newegg for 3 dollars each free shipping.

[muchadoaboutnothing]

EK has gone through the trouble of getting a botique product for a small but dedicated clientele. People who are purchasing the bag are happily doing so and there doesn't seem to be a shortage. The price is a little hard to swallow for me.

For a tenkeyless you could probably buy a traditional laptop bag with sufficient padding with a similar amount of storage space for other stuff for $15-$20 at Costco/BJs/Sams Club. For a full size keyboard? I would be more interested in seeing a viable alternative... EK doesn't offer one yet for fullsize either, but I imagine it's only a matter of time.

I agree with you here. I bought a few 6 foot hdmi cables on newegg for 3 dollars each free shipping.

Meritline will sell a couple HDMI cables for $1.50 shipped upon occasion. Very cheap. When I'm not hankering for a sale I'll usually just go to Monoprice (excellent prices for long lengths/different gauges, plus they OEM all their own stuff).

If not Slumdog Millionairres
(image here)

Nice 'shop. I LOLed.

[Cyanide]

Anyone have an update on when they will get the keyboards? I only plan on getting one mechanical keyboard, and keeping it for a while, so i'm trying to find the best deal, and fully explore my options ^_^

[panda-R]

Anyone have an update on when they will get the keyboards? I only plan on getting one mechanical keyboard, and keeping it for a while, so i'm trying to find the best deal, and fully explore my options ^_^

next year ^_^

[ynih]

The ability to justify $50 on an item that costs $5 to make is all dependent on your life style.  I have friends who spend all their money on $1000 Prada shirts that don't look different than my $50 HUGO BOSS shirts.  Then again, that friend has the cheapest **** in almost everything else. We, as a niche community, spend more money on 1 single keyboard than most people spend on keyboards their entire life....well, that's just our (or some of ours') life style.  

Sure, if I search Alibaba, I can probably get some Chinese vendors to make that bag for $15 shipped, but I don't really want to.  I want to enjoy this niche product because I like to enjoy it.  Thank you, very much.  My 2 cents.

[Doober]

^^ agreed

things are only worth what people are willing to pay for them, and if anyone here has ever taken a Micro course in college you would understand that along any supply/Price curve their is some number of people/demand that are willing to buy that product. Yes maybe I would like the bag to be closer to 35ish, but i might get it at 50.

Also who knows how many they are being supplied, if they are selling all 10 or X per month then apparently $50 is a good price.

Lastly people are complaining about a nice $50 bag but not a $70 palm rest.......

-doober

[db_Iodine]

Lastly people are complaining about a nice $50 bag but not a $70 palm rest.......-doober

But it's 3-star and handmade!

[db_Iodine]

And we still haven't figured out if the Ducky is real leather or compressed duck bills despite Pandas supposedly having a keen sense of smell.  But then, I find most of these asian keyboards confusing.

I'd still put my money on artificial leather instead of real cow.

[Doober]

who said cows are the only source of leather?

-doober

PS someone cut open their palm rest and see if its real leather!

[bigblackjesus]

Whats to say I couldn't just order from here instead of waiting for elite to get them? http://en.item.rakuten.com/archisite/aa0297000/

[bigblackjesus]

Nothing.  That's why I included links in the WW Shopping Wiki.  But if you are in the USA the $50 or so in shipping is pretty painful.

Sorry new and haven't poked over to the wiki yet.

[sixty]

Put some new keycaps on my Leopold sample today. This is where the Leopold shines. Since it has no branding, leds or any type of annoying logo it looks very sleek with blank keycaps:

[sixty]

But will Elitekeyboards ship nice thick Cherry keys as an option?

That's the $40 question (don't want the price to be tooooooo high).

Who knows, I guess we wait and see. I'm pretty sure they will stock some type of new blank replacement keys sooner or later. People seem to really like them.

Capslock from the Cherry POM set does not fit, of course due to Cherry's silly offcenter stems. Not sure what to do about that. I put the double-shot capslock key from one of those G80-8xxx POS boards there for now. My only non-blank key is capslock now. Take that capslock haters.

P.S. If you get to keep the keyboard for free you should mention that in the OP. FCC regs. (I love razzing EU members with FCC regulations for a change).

The keyboard does not even have any FCC id (yet).

Anyway, this reminds me that there was a period where all OEM keyboards had to have that silly safety warning lasered into the FRONT CASE directly in Europe. The European version of the Cherry/Compaq G80 with browns even has this too. Very lame.

[duq]

Nothing.  That's why I included links in the WW Shopping Wiki.  But if you are in the USA the $50 or so in shipping is pretty painful.

Yeah... thumbs down for horrible shipping price. Well worth it to just wait it out it seems.

[sixty]

Metal foil can be awesome. Maybe this will also work with the thinner Filco/Ducky blanks. Fill the keycap with metal foil to avoid it shining through and instead have it reflect back to the metal plate, which results in this nice ambient effect.

[RickyJ]

Haha, makes me think of covering keys with gold leaf.  A friend of mine covered his welding helmet with gold leaf, cost a fair bit though.

[wendell]

Put some new keycaps on my Leopold sample today. This is where the Leopold shines. Since it has no branding, leds or any type of annoying logo it looks very sleek with blank keycaps.

I just ordered a FC200R directly from Leopold through a contact in Korea. I discussed with them the possibility of getting blank key replacements, but they were completely not interested in helping with that.

Where do you suggest looking for appropriate blank keys?

[chuckading]

...to avoid it shining through...

This has been my only concern with planning to purchase the new 87 key leopold from EK along with the third round custom key cap order.

2 questions...

Would it be possible to remove the LED from the switch? Reversible mod?

Do we know if the Leopold spacebar can be made by SP?

[eXellenty]

does anyone know when the leopold will be available at the ek shop? i need a new keyboard (tenkeyless) because i m selling my 104 filco...

do you guys think i should buy a filco tenkeyless or wait or the new leopold?

[db_Iodine]

Just get a Filco if you need one right now. It's probably going to be a bit more expensive, but you won't have to wait too long. Also everyone loves them Filcos, right?

[ironman31]

does anyone know when the leopold will be available at the ek shop? i need a new keyboard (tenkeyless) because i m selling my 104 filco...

do you guys think i should buy a filco tenkeyless or wait or the new leopold?

I think maybe by the end of February (hopefully)

[eXellenty]

oh man thats really long time till the end of february

[sixty]

Sixty, if you get to keep the keyboard for free you really should mention it in the OP.

Elitekeyboards have been kind enough to hook me up with a sample unit

This has been in the first few lines of the OP since the very first day I posted the review. I figured that should be good enough. Especially since it seems the FTC has no real business in Europe to begin with. Google results on suggested "disclaimers" seem to generally agree, though forums seem to be a mixed bag. Going by what I read in the 5 minutes I bothered to read up on the FTC, it seems that iMav would optionally also have to put a statement in the review section claiming that the views and everything reflected is the opinion made by members and that he, as the site owner, is not affiliated with ______ and merely acts as a publishing channel.

Anyway, the keyboard sample I received has been properly declared as a sample and imported properly by the German customs as an acknowledged sample unit for review purposes. With that my legal part is done here for now.

[ironman31]

oh man thats really long time till the end of february

It's always worth it to wait for something you want rather than waste your money on something you don't.

[sixty]

Thanks, I guess "sample unit" works.

I added "free of charge" so you  and this charming lady are happy:

[sixty]

Lol.  Nothing personal.  You should have seen what happened at OCN when Manyak reviewed a Black Widow and surprisingly enough Razer never bothered to ask for the "Sample" back.

I know, did not take it personally. We have so much paper stuff to mess with here in Germany that a bit more would not even matter. I would not be surprised if they come up with similar laws about this type of stuff in the future. There has been a big scandal about the "iPad Killer made in Germany" aka the "WePad", where 70% of the Amazon reviews had been written by the CEO of the company himself, with several fake accounts.

People kinda started to disbelieve in online reviews since.

[killy]

At this point I wonder if getting the rosewill RK-9000 would almost be the same thing without the extra months of weighting. I never thought I would first hand experience this, but some keys in my keytronic are actually starting to get a lot softer than others.

[iMav]

oh man thats really long time till the end of february

J-Goods can hook you up if you can't wait.

[Doober]

At this point I wonder if getting the rosewill RK-9000 would almost be the same thing without the extra months of weighting. I never thought I would first hand experience this, but some keys in my keytronic are actually starting to get a lot softer than others.

when you typed out "weighting" did you not realize it is "waiting"?

also I watched the FTC video and it is very informative.

-doober

PS Ripster you are just jealous that Sixty got the "sample" and you didn't

[Doober]

lol and his failure to fulfill my order correctly for 1 ESC key come on...................

[killy]

when you typed out "weighting" did you not realize it is "waiting"?

also I watched the FTC video and it is very informative.

-doober

PS Ripster you are just jealous that Sixty got the "sample" and you didn't

Indeed. Sometimes my fingers will also type out 'right' instead of 'write', and etc. No idea why it happens.

[Doober]

I semitemos tsuj epyt gnihtyreve sdrawkcab

... but that only happens when i get possessed.

-rebood

[iMav]

I semitemos tsuj epyt gnihtyreve sdrawkcab

  ˙uʍop ǝpısdn sƃuıɥʇ ǝdʎʇ ı 'sǝɯıʇǝɯos ʇnq˙˙˙spɹɐʍʞɔɐq ǝdʎʇ ɹǝʌǝu ı

[sam113101]

Me, I just type or say random numbers because it's so mysterious and girls like that.
556498798756132132154654987978946132
See*?
5654678798021621687613187975321316465487231267456532165465498
It sure means something, but I won't tell you what, you'll have to find out by yourself.
5654654879875216216798767987987946413213576537546846
I'm so mysterious.

EDIT; 52132157987986413216546798461325489

[killy]

Exactly.

[guilleguillaume]

How the hell did you do that?

It's kinda funny that I'm able to read it as fast as normal text lol

[fssbzz]

ɐɥɐɥ
ɹǝʇsdıɹ ʎq pǝuʍo

[sixty]

uʍop ǝpısdn pǝuɹnʇ-pǝddılɟ ʇoƃ ǝɟıl ʎW ˙ʍoɥ ʇnoqɐ llɐ ʎɹoʇs ɐ sı sıɥʇ 'ʍoN

[fssbzz]

ಠ‾ಠ ǝɯosǝʍɐsʇıƃɯo
 @‾@ sıɥʇ ǝʞıl oƃ sǝʎǝ ʎɯ ˙ƃuısnɟuoɔ ƃuıʇʇǝƃ sı pɐǝɹɥʇ sıɥʇ

[iMav]

I always use http://flip.geekhack.org.

[fssbzz]

ǝɔıu ɐɥɐɥ
˙¡ʞɔɐɥʞǝǝƃ uı sıɥʇ ǝʌɐɥ ʎǝɥʇ ǝɔıʇou uǝʌǝ ʇ,upıp ı ʍoʍ lol
/ƃɹo˙ʞɔɐɥʞǝǝƃ˙dılɟ//:dʇʇɥ

[db_Iodine]

lol, I just rotated the picture of my monitor 180 degrees so I could read those posts more easily. And the content of all those posts..

[iMav]

lol, I just rotated the picture of my monitor 180 degrees so I could read those posts more easily. And the content of all those posts..

If history is any indication, expect about a week of random, flipped posts scattered around geekhack...then the novelty will wear off (again).

[NimbleRabit]

Mine just arrived!  Good review, it was very helpful to me when deciding what I wanted to purchase.  Thanks for doing this, and I just want to say that this thing really does feel amazingly solid.  I've been using slim style scissor switch keyboards for a while now and was prompted to get something different after my second one broke.  Honestly I feel like I could throw this across the room and it would be fine, although my wall might be pretty jacked up.

[clickclack]

Both measurements with the cord attached-


Archiss 87-
946.0g

Filco 87-
955.5g


The exact number may be a hair different because both boards were
measured after being slightly modified (only slightly).
I will check them again when I switch the keyboards back to stock.

Essentially they are the same weight though. A 9.5g difference is less than
five of "my" keycaps.

[clickclack]

LoL

mine was the white blank version with one of my keycaps on it. Which is slightly more than 1g heavier than a stock Filco key. Atleast we know we are calibrated. haahaaa


=)

[typo]

be aware the legends on this are probably like the das. they are filled above the laser groove for high contrast. the portion of epoxy above the groove will probably quickly wear off for most people. leaving the standard dull looking laser infill with low contrast.
this should last a long time but it is not what you will have when you first get it. i also wonder if the keys wear down/get shiny like the das. are they abs or pbt? i don't know how cherry gets good contrast without using this "overfill" method.

[clickclack]

If I remember correctly you are consistently different than "most people".
LoL

XD

[typo]

ok, you got me there lol.

[chimborazo]

great forum here guys, the most informative - for sure
when is this Leopold board going on sale? and what will be the price range for it ? thanks